Writings of the Third Wave-Gilley Essays

Writings of the Third Wave-Gilley Essays Writings of the Third Wave-Gilley Essay Writings of the Third Wave-Gilley Essay Writings of the Third Wave-Gilley BY Marsaar2412 However, one need only look at the cover images to see what is wrong with Bellafantes picture. McBeal, lest we forget, is not a real person. For the popular media to decry young feminism based on popular media depictions of it is truly a postmodern example of pop culture eating itself. These writers, while not following any unified stance, define themselves as the third wave, an appellation that serves to distinguish them from the first and second waves of feminism while simultaneously marking them as a continuation thereof. The waves metaphor is used to denote ontinuity of movement containing swells and troughs rather than discrete, isolated periods of political involvement. The theoretical underpinnings of the third wave, therefore, come from three widely divergent streams of thought that coexisted during this time. Many third-wave writers talk about how their feminist mothers or fathers gave them the sense of entitlement that made them feel feminist struggle might no longer be necessary. A second predominant message of the time was that feminism had gone too far and, in fact, was to blame for the exhaustion of women trying to do ouble duty as career women and wives and mothers. Media stereotypes of the hairy-legged, bra-burning, anti-male, strident feminist permeated the culture. This led to the phenomenon of Im not a feminist, but syndrome. These three books claimed that contemporary feminism had devolved into what they called victim feminism, in which women derived all of their rhetorical power from claiming to be victims, particularly of sexual violence. Wolf, along with Roiphe and Paglia, argued for power feminism, a worldview in which women are still being oppressed simply because we are allowing it to happen. The third stone in the bedrock of third-wave feminism is that, contrary to being unnecessary or having gone too far, the movement had not gone far enough, limiting itself to the narrow interests of its white, liberal majority. Although a lesbian, Moraga did not want to take up alliances against the men in her community with whom she must work to end racial oppression. This Bridge and the spate of anthologies by women of color that followed in its wake served as a clarion call to the feminist movement to examine its own racism and classism in order to rebuild as a powerful movement fighting for the interests of all omen. The phrase third wave as applied to a new strain of feminism first appeared in the late 1980s; women of color used the term to describe a feminist movement engaged in analyzing and eschewing its internalized racism. Rebecca Walker officially launched the third wave as an identifiable entity in her 1992 Ms. article, Becoming the Third Wave. l write this as a plea to all women, especially the women of my generation: Let Thomas confirmation serve to remind you, as it did me, that the fght is far from over Turn that outrage into political power . I am nota ostfeminism feminist. I am the Third Wave. Her use of the word I highlights the third waves focus on individualism, but also its reluctance to speak in an assumed† and potent ially false†solidarity. for what defines good feminism or who is a good feminist. For example, is a lesbian more feminist than a heterosexual woman? Does wearing lipstick make you a bad feminist? theres no single young feminist perspectlve. But more to tne polnt, tneres no one Temlnlst perspective, ana tnere never has been. Third-wavers Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards rgue, Feminism isnt about what choice you make, but the freedom to make that choice. Many young feminists are now exercising their right to freely choose these traditionally gendered modes. In 1991, a group of young women in the punk scene in Olympia, Washington, and Washington D. C. organized themselves to protest the sexism in the music underground and named themselves Riot Grrrl. Grrrl, a word coined by Bikini Kill singer and activist Kathleen Hanna, is a spontaneous young- feminist reclamation of the word girl at least partially derived from a phrase of ncouragement popularized by young American blac k women in the late 1980s: You go guuuuurll! Riot Grrrls frequently adopted girly modes of dress, wearing baby doll dresses, knee-high socks, and minibarrettes alongside their combat boots, piercings, and aggressive attitudes. Young feminists, in addition to including trappings of girlhood in their personal style, also began to reclaim other traditional female arenas as a political act. n which she argues that it is time to rethink the position that girls doing traditionally male activities is feminist, but girls doing traditionally female activities is not. Finally, the reclamation of public sexual performance, such as burlesque, vaudeville, and strip shows, is getting a lot of feminist press. While it is highly doubtful that any significant number of second-wave feminists were anti-sex, Andrea Dworkins famous statement that all heterosexual sex is rape took feminist arguments about the power of the phallus too far and instigated a near-riot (philosophically speaking) known as th e Sex Wars in feminism. In addition to refusing to limit their sexual desires based on political analysis, many third-wavers believe in the use of female sexuality as a power tool. The use of sexuality as a form of power is highly controversial and not endorsed by all (or perhaps even most) of the third wave, but it is included in the discussion. The third waves insistence on the ability to embrace contradiction, and its refusal to fit into neat categories, makes it the perfect home for a new theory of transgenderism. omen-only events like the Michigan Womyns Music Festival on the argument that female-to-male transsexuals are currently recipients of male privilege and male-to- female transsexuals had male privilege during their socialization as youth. Although media representations are not real, they definitely influence and shape societys reading of reality Within this, analyzing hip-hop music has become a particular specialty of the third wave, and in fact, many young African American feminists call them selves hip-hop feminists instead of third-wavers. Control of the media is the single most important issue of our time. 16 One way for young activists to wrest control of the media is to create some themselves; third-wavers have taken advantage of todays multimedia possibilities to do Just that. Third-wavers are concerned with publishing in popular ormats and venues, so as to be a part of the culture they critique; they are not interested in being confined to academia, nor do they feel academic feminism gives them the freedom to theorize in new ways. Is the third wave in opposition to the second, or a continuation of it? There are several indicators that the conflict is overhyped: many third-wavers have a past association with Ms. , a bastion of second- wave feminism. In Wrltlngs 0T tne I ave Ollley sort 0T opens up tne Idea 0T tnlra-wave feminism. For many still, the idea that feminism is a thing of the past still rings true, ut Gilley points out through a series of writings that that is not the case. She also tries to separate it from the second-wave of feminism and the thoughts of being a postfeminist. She does this by giving historical background of the start of the Third Wave and what the theories of this wave are: queer theory, anti-racism, and women- of-color consciousness. Personally, I believe in the idea of the Third Wave and take part in the idea that feminism is still in fact a current problem. I think, however, that it is Just recently picking up the necessary steam to make a difference. Feminism has ort of taken a backseat in earlier years so other groups could obtain their more basic rights and while that is great, it is now Just getting back into the forefront of peoples minds through media outlets. Still, it is not making headlines and that is why†I believe†it is still a popular idea in some areas that it is an old idea, because weve fallen into this rut and people dont truly see the inequalities that are still occurring. 1. Gilley brings up the idea ofa having to separate oppression in society with Cherrie Moraga and her statement of, The lesbian separatist utopia? No thank you, sisters. Gilley points out that people are oppressed in many ways and that they have to basically choose their battles. From this, do you believe that there is a hierarchy of oppression still evident in todays society? And if you do, how do you think this could possibly be solved? 2. Gilley mentions the idea of the stereotypical hairy legged, bra-burning, anti male feminist. This idea that many believe feminists to be leads to the idea of feminism being either this radical thing†which rarely it is anymore†or a sort of Joke. So, how do you think we should fix this idea and hopefully stop the Im not a feminist, but syndrome Gilley brings up?